Heated Night at the Ball Field

Who knew that machine pitch baseball games could get so heated? I still believe that my son wouldn't care so much about winning and losing if it weren't for the grown ups at the game. He truly enjoys the game and is just glad that he is improving his skills and gets lots of game time.

Last night Logan had a game against a very competitive team, as are we. Scott is the assistant coach and coaches at third base when we are at bat. He told me the other team was having their players run more than others when the ball was overthrown. Meaning, if a kid was thrown the ball and he couldn't get it, the other team would continue to run their player until the ball was in control and time was called. This is a cheap trick some use to get the run total up.

Yes, we have done this too on occasion, I admit. Anyway, our coaches saw this was happening and decided to play that game too. The other team's coach came off the bench to stand next to Scott and yell about it. That must have signaled the players' dads to start yelling from behind the fence. I couldn't hear the exchanges, but new it wasn't good.

Scott took it well, just standing there pretending to ignore. Our moms told me we might need an escort to the car. Come to find out, those dads wanted to fight Scott and another coach after the game. Are we still in high school?

Anyway, the game was close, but we pulled it out in the final inning 16-10. Logan had a pretty good game. He had a triple his first at bat! He crushed the ball! He singled his second and struck out his third time. He swung at high and low balls, so Scott wasn't too pleased. Logan was still flying high from his triple, so it didn't really matter.

It's all about playing the game and having a good time doing it. Improving yourself during the season and learning more about the game should be the focus, I think.

Couponing

For over a year I've been hearing about these women who use coupons, combined with sales, to get their whole family's groceries for less than half off. A lot of times even 80 percent off or more!

I joined one of the woman's web site for a small fee for the first 4 weeks to see how it's done. The problem with that one for me was that I didn't have access to the stores she uses. She did have a couple of options for me, but I didn't see the savings she was getting. Also, there was an additional fee for more than one store's information.

I decided not to continue with the membership and just kept doing what I was doing. I shop for most things at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. I have found that they usually have the cheapest price on almost everything, and of course I love the one stop shopping when I bring my kids along. I always use coupons, but not for all things. I often buy store brand items and stock up when something is on a good sale.

My ears always perk up when I hear something about saving more or being more frugal, but I am usually already doing the things I hear about. But I can not figure out this couponing game thing.

Last week my local news heard about another couponing woman from Atlanta and decided to fly her to the studio to show the studio manager how the game works. Problem for me was that neither the broadcast nor the website went into detail about how to really do it yourself. They told about gathering the Sunday paper for the coupons, sometimes more than one, and matching coupons with the sale items in the weekly fliers. This specific girl would spend an hour with the ads to make her lists and half a day going to all the stores. She saved her family of 5 enough to count as a part time job. I want to be able to do this so I don't have to work every weekend and am able to have a weekend with my family once or twice a month.

I am willing to spend the time to get the reward--I don't expect a hand out. I know everything worthwhile is worth working for, but I need help in learning how. The first girl I learned about over a year ago, now has a book. I think I am going to get it and see if it helps me any more. I have already joined her site once and googled all sorts of other sites. None really spell it out for me so that I get the idea. Hopefully, next time I write about this I can pass along the info I've learned. Also, please feel free to comment and help me out if you already play the game.

Cleaning the House

Why is this a chore that is never complete?

I've decided it is mostly because I stay home with the kids, and thus, am always living and doing things here that make it cluttered and dirty. I realized my friends that have both parents working full time probably should have cleaner houses than me. They don't spend as much time there as me and my children do.

A while back I was feeling completely overwhelmed with all the chores that needed to be done here. I don't have a huge house, but it does have 3 levels and 5 beds. Oh, let's not forget 4 bathrooms as well. I decided to break down all the things that had to be done on a weekly basis and divide them over 5 days. I could do a little each day and if I maintained this regimen, could enjoy a clean house more often. I do all the bathrooms on Monday, change the bedding's on Tuesday, laundry Wednesday, Thursday dust, and vacuum and clean hardwood floors on Friday.

Life seems to often get in the way of this schedule and then I get behind, but sometimes I'll just let it go and start the schedule over the following week. This has seemed to work better for me and help me feel less stressed about my house. Now I need to work on my pack rat habits and get rid of my piles of things I think I need or will go through later and never do. More to come on this later.

Mother's Day. . .

As a child I don't remember these, probably at all. As a teenager I told my mother that I didn't understand the point. Now, I admit, I do get it--a little.

I grew up mostly with one parent. My mother. I don't know how she did it, but thankfully, she did it pretty well since I think I turned out OK (I do have my issues that might stem from only having one parent though). When I told her I thought Mother's Day was a stupid holiday, I did make her cry. I didn't mean to, but no one was there when I was growing up to explain it to me.

Mother's Day doesn't have to be extravagant. We mothers don't want it to be. We just want a simple day that expresses the love of our children and spouses. We would like to relax with breakfast in bed made by our children, maybe have handmade cards or gifts and a day together with the ones we love. We don't want to cook, clean, do laundry or even argue with the kids. Just a peaceful day.


This year I thought it was not a big deal. I did make sure I didn't have to work, as my kids usually have fun with it. I didn't ask my husband if he had plans or any hints as to what I was thinking. This was a mistake.

I heard on the radio a couple of days before Sunday this lady that didn't have children of her own but did have a step-daughter. The girl had come home from school one day last week excited to show her what she had made for her mom. She had not made anything for her step-mom. Her step-mom did not showed her disappointment, rather her excitement in the nice gift she had made. On the radio, she expressed her true feelings: sadness. She was unable to have her own children and thought of her step-daughter as her daughter. She, too, would like to have been thought of at Mother's Day by her step-daughter.

I realized I have been taking for granted this special day by not acknowledging it's importance.

I didn't share my new thoughts with my husband, and I paid for it. In the past I complained about cut flowers costing too much and they just die and told him not to get me anything, including cards, because they too cost too much. So this year, I was not met with breakfast in bed or gifts from my children. I had complained too much. Scott didn't want to feel like he had failed again.

I am thankful, because my kids made homemade cards at church and Logan made a book about me at school. I will cherish these for years to come. Hopefully, I will also learn to be more open with my thoughts and feelings in the future, because if I don't, it's only me who's losing out.

I also hope that Scott and I can teach our children to be better, together. Parents are to be loved and cherished because one day they may not be here and be a part of our lives.

Working on Patience

After I wrote my last blog, I decided to focus more on my patience with my kids. That evening I decided it might be fun to make home-made pizza. There would be enough things involved in making it that everyone would be able to have a job or two. We would be making two pizzas: one cheese and the other hamburger.

I put Logan in charge of browning the hamburger as he is getting old enough to understand that the pan gets very hot and you just hold on to the handle. He did a fine job and asked questions when he needed.

The girls and Carter helped make the pizza dough. They each got to pour in some mix or water and all got to stir it up. Even Grace had a good time participating.

We all tried to spread the crust out on the sheets, but that posed more difficult than it should have been. It was quite sticky, so I ended up getting it as spread out as I could. But we all had a great time getting our hands dirty and sticky with dough. All except Grace this time.

Logan topped his with his browned hamburger while everyone else spread out the cheese. Grace had a good time trying to eat hers before I could get it into the oven.

They baked up well and we all enjoyed a memory filled pizza for dinner!

The best part for me was seeing them all work together and realizing when I really try, I can be patient with them all. I hope this will jump start me onto a different path that includes more patience with my family and in my life.

Patience is Helped with Gardening

Patience is not a virtue that I posses. What I thought might help me with this is gardening. For a long time now I have enjoyed plants and planting them. I'm not sure I pick the best varieties to go together, but I love taking an ordinary piece of ground and making it look like something. I used to want to be a landscape architect, but that never became a reality.

Yesterday I finished planting my vegetable garden and planted some annual flowers along my walkway. My kids love to help my in this chore, but me with no patience, has difficulty in letting them do this. I stupidly don't want them getting dirty. They are kids for goodness sake! Let them be! Enjoy this time with them and try to teach them something! Why can't I just relax and have fun? In my mind is how long this will take if I do it vs. how long if they help, and how much other stuff I need to get done. I don't over schedule them with extra-curricular activities, but I should schedule my day a ton better to help me and possibly teach them better.

With gardening, you have to plant and be patient and watch it grow. Then you can witness the beautiful flowers and fruit that they give you. Parenting is no different. You have a baby, nurture and teach it, and enjoy this beautiful creation that God has given you. Hopefully, I can be much more patient with my children and remember that they are precious beings that will one day be gone from my home. I have this one and only time with them now to teach and nurture them. To show them how God is love and how He wants us to live.

Patience is hard for me, but if I can get it right (and fast), maybe I can pass along this wonderful trait to them.

Where Have I Been?

I'll tell you...I've been painting my interior of my house. This includes my kids' bathroom, 1/2 bath my guests, and us as well, use and my living room, entry, and 2 halls. That is a lot of painting, and I'll tell you this is no easy task while trying to take care of small children.

I managed to get this done in about 2 and a half weeks. My kids did great! I admit a couple of days I let them watch more TV than usually allowed, but then they'd play nicely while I painted. Mostly, I painted while they were taking naps or down for the night.

Now, I am going to try to save to buy more decorations. I'd like some things for a shelf and something above a cabinet in the half bath, some sort of ducky decorations for the kids' bath and many things for my living room. I have a coat closet that has an open top that could use something up there, not sure what at this point. I guess some sort of container and foliage or flowers. I'd eventually like a new coffee table (or paint the old one) and an armoire for the TV that look good together.

I don't really like how the walls going up the stairs turned out...some streaking, but I'm thinking of trying one of those walls with family photos up there. The kind that includes old photos of grandparents, parents and siblings. My kids could look at people that might not be with us still or just see people that we don't get to see often. In the meantime, I'd cover up the blemishes on the wall and not have to repaint!

I have to add that I had some help in deciding what color to paint and where to shop for decorations from my cousin, Mindy. Thanks so much! I can't forget my husband, Scott, who helped my with the very tall entry and hall up the stairs. Thanks so much honey!